Stationary scanning devices (also referred to as vertical scanning devices), which are optical reading devices, are used for registering items to be purchased by customers. The items are registered in the stationary scanning device by being passed over a fixed scanner portion mounted on the front surface of a support column (the surface of the stationary scanning device facing the front side) such that barcodes of the items are scanned. The stationary scanning device includes, in addition to the scanner portion mounted on the front surface of the support column, a handheld scanner configured to scan barcodes of items to be purchased by customers, thereby registering the items.
A related-art stationary scanning device is illustrated in FIG. 9. Part (a) of FIG. 9 is a front view of a stationary scanning device installed on a checkout counter (also referred to as a bagging counter). Part (b) of FIG. 9 is a side view of the stationary scanning device, in which the stationary scanning device is illustrated with a cart having a shopping basket placed thereon.
The stationary scanning device includes a key board 22 and a display portion 23 provided through intermediation of a support column 21. A fixed scanner portion 11 is mounted on the support column 21 at a position slightly lower than the display portion 23.
The handheld scanner 10 is held on a holding portion 12 mounted on the upper side-surface of the support column 21 when not in use. A cable 13 extends from the inside of the stationary scanning device to the handheld scanner 10. The cable 13 is drawn out of the stationary scanning device to pass under the checkout counter 20 (not shown), and then extends to the handheld scanner 10 from the front side of a checkout counter 20.
When being held on the holding portion 12, a gripping part of the handheld scanner 10 faces downward in a substantially vertical direction, and hence the cable 13 hangs down in the vertical direction below the counter surface of the checkout counter 20. Thus, when scanning is performed with the scanner portion mounted on the front surface of the support column without using the handheld scanner 10, a shopping basket or an item may hit the cable 13 to hinder scanning operation. Consequently, in order to prevent such trouble, attention needs to be paid to the cable 13, such as avoiding the cable 13 or drawing the cable 13.
Further, there may occur a trouble that, when passing a customer passage extending in parallel to the checkout counter 20, a cart having a shopping basket placed thereon may be got caught on the cable 13 of the handheld scanner 10, which hangs down from the checkout counter 20. Consequently, in order to prevent such trouble, attention needs to be paid to the cable 13, such as preventing the cable 13 from hanging down over the checkout counter 20.
In Patent Document 1, there is disclosed a fixing device for a handheld scanner, which is mounted on a vertical scanning device and is capable of turning on and off the handheld scanner.